Never Sacrifice Yourself For Your Job
by Obsidian Fire
Summary: The Turks and Rufus never let AVALANCHE know how much they knew about the situation. Now if only they can keep Heidegger and Scarlet from finding out... FFVII as told from the Turks point of view. Spoilers for Before Crisis and Compilation complaint.
1. You're Still Alive! ? !

AN: This fic got started because I am playing the game (FFVII) and when I got to the scene where Reno and the Turks are introduced for the first time it hit me just how well Reno's reactions to the entire situation are when Before Crisis is taken into account. So, I decided to do a sortof novelization of the game from the Turks point of view. I call this a sortof novelization because it is really a collection of oneshots as I'm only doing the scenes where the Turks interact with Cloud and Co. This will be more then you think as I'm taking into account all the Turks in Before Crisis, not just the ones we see in FFVII. That said, there will be lots of references (spoilers!) to Before Crisis mentioned in passing.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 1**  
You're Still Alive! ? !  
**

Reno sighed as he walked down the junk-lined paths of the Sector 5 Slums. I_ really don't want to be here. But... _he glanced over at the three troopers flanking him. When Tseng had informed him that Heidegger had given Reno three troopers for the job, the look on his face had said it all; the troopers were there not so much for Reno to use, but to make sure he followed his mission out to the letter. Reno winced. _Me, Rude and Tseng don't have any chances left. And the President wants to make sure we know that. At least the Chief and the others got out fine. _Reno couldn't stop himself from grinning at that. Nobody left Shin-Ra and got away with it. Nobody but the Turks that was. _To bad the three of us had to stay behind to make sure nobody in Shin-Ra thought anything different, but hey! It was totally worth it._

Reno's good mood was ruined when the spire of the Sector 5 Church blocked out the florescent lighting. _Sorry Aerith,_ he mentally apologized, _ I hate to do this to you, but it was either me or Tseng and I couldn't let Tseng screw this mission up because of past feelings._ He stopped before the door of the church and looked back at the troopers. "Stay out here until I signal, 'kay?" Without giving the troopers a chance to answer, Reno walked into the church. The first thing he heard was voices.

"Me? I do a little bit of everything," said a male voice. It sounded young.

"Oh, a jack of all trades?" Aerith clarified. Reno grinned and leaned on the back pew. Aerith was clearly flirting.

"Yeah, I do whatever's needed," said the guy. Aerith laughed. "What's so funny? What are you laughing at?" the guy protested. Reno looked at him. The guy looked familiar. The guy had impossibly spiky blond hair and was wearing the uniform of a SOLDIER 1st Class and on his back... Reno gulped. On his back was the one and only Buster Sword. _How the hell did he get that?_ Reno wondered. Zack Fair was the last person to have the Buster Sword and he had died in the Midgar Wastelands. The Buster Sword should be with his body. For another guy to have it... _This is not good._

"Sorry..." Aerith made out. "I just..." She noticed Reno for the first time and she and the guy turned to face Reno. Reno saw the guy's face and felt liked he had been punched in the stomach. "Sorry bad timing on my part," Aerith whispered.

_Definitely, most definitely, _Reno thought. _What the hell are you doing here Cloud Strife? And without mako poisoning to boot? If you made it, why didn't Zack... Right, Zack... _Reno sighed. None of the Turks got it, but they all knew Zack protected those weaker then himself._ Why am I not surprised you pulled something like this?_

Cloud started walking towards him and Reno tensed. He was under no illusion he could win. _Great,_ he thought, _just great. Not only am I facing off with the kid who beat Sephiroth, but now he's been experimented on for four years. He's probably stronger then ever. _He readied his Pyramid spell just in case a fight broke out. Fortunately, Aerith interrupted before anything could happen. "Cloud!" she called. "Don't let him get to you."

Cloud looked at Aerith and shrugged before walking back to her. "Say, Cloud?" Aerith asked. "Have you ever been a bodyguard? You DO do everything, right?" For his own sake, Reno hoped Cloud would say no.

Cloud scratched the back of his head in a Zack-like manner. "Yeah, that's right." Reno did not like where this was going. Aerith's next words confirmed it.

"Then get me out of here," she told Cloud. "Take me home." Reno grimaced._ Damn._ Now he was going to have to go through Strife. Not a pleasant thought. _Unless... _Reno internally grinned. Strife would be the perfect excuse to not complete the mission. _Now if I can just get the troopers to blindly cooperate..._

"Okay," Cloud agreed, "I'll do it... but it'll cost you."

"Well then, let's see..." Aerith was in full on flirting mode. Reno wondered how she could do that when she knew he was there for her. "How about if I go out with you once?"

Cloud nodded and turned to Reno. Reno smirked and walked down the aisle. He stopped in the middle of the church "I don't know who you are," Cloud began "but..." He stopped mid-sentance and slowly shook his head. "You don't know me...?" he faintly asked. He looked confused and seemed to be looking at something far away. After a moment he nodded his head and looked right at Reno. "Oh yeah... I know you." He boldly waked a few steps forward and Reno got a good look at his face for the first time. "That uniform..."

Reno's eyes narrowed. _Looks like the mako poisoning isn't completely gone yet, Strife. Knew you couldn't be completely recovered yet. Good, you won't be at full capacity if we have to fight._ The door burst open and the three troopers ran in. The skidded to a halt behind Reno. _Right on time, _he thought.

"Hey sis, this one's a little weird," one of the troopers called.

"Shut up you Shin-Ra spy,"Cloud shouted. The church fell silent.

Reno mentally laughed at Cloud's denial. _ Except you are Strife, he_ thought._ You only beat Sephiroth with no enhancements and survived four years of Hojo's experimentation and recovered from the worst case of mako poisoning Cissnei's seen in less then a month. You're nothing but weird._

"Reno, want him taken out?" The trooper asked.

Reno shook himself and gave the trooper a glare. "I haven't decided yet." _Uh, no, we're not. That'd be suicide._

Suddenly Aerith yelled out, "Don't fight here! You'll ruin the flowers!" before running to the door in the back of the church. Cloud followed her.

The troopers burst out laughing and Reno walked right through Aerith's flowers to the back door. He stopped when he realized something. "They were... mako eyes," he said to himself. It conformed what he had already guessed; Cloud Strife had been exposed to enough mako in the experiments to be considered a SOLDIER 1st Class. When he didn't sense anyone following him he turned around to find the troopers were still laughing. "Yeah, all right," he ordered. "Back to work, back to work." He turned from them and walked to the back door. Right before he went through it he turned around. "Oh, and... don't step on the flowers..." He smirked at them and went through the door, laughing off the troopers comments.

The tower in the back of the church was old, half-rotted and had an upside-down rocket rusting in the middle of it. It took a moment for Reno to find Cloud and Aerith and ginned when he saw them trapped on a second-story ledge. _Perfect. Couldn't have planned it better myself. _"There they are, over there!" He pointed to them.

"That guy!" Aerith shouted when she saw them. She and Cloud talked quietly for a few minutes and then Cloud jumped over the rocket onto another ledge.

"Aerith," Cloud called. "This way."

Aerith walked up the the edge and shook her head. Reno didn't get why she didn't jump; it wasn't that far. _Nervous, eh? Let's see if we can wake you up to your situation._ Reno grinned.

"All right, I'll hold them off." Cloud sounded almost board. Reno glanced at the troopers behind him. _Now why do I get the feeling that you guys are the type that don't think about orders and have really bad aim?_

Aerith nodded. "Right. Make sure they don't get through!"

Sure that Cloud wouldn't let Aerith get hurt and dying to see exactly how bad the troopers aim was, Reno ordered, "The Ancient is getting away! Attack! Attack! Attack!" Living up to their stereotype, the troopers shot at her and missed. Instead of jumping over the rocket like Reno thought she would, Aerith lost her footing on the ledge and slid down the rocket into the church basement.

"Aerith!" Cloud screamed.

Reno turned to the troopers and shrugged. At least they could now report that he had tried to stop her from escaping and succeed. "Think we killed 'em?" he bragged. "Shouldn't have even put up a fight!" The troopers grinned at him and raced down to the basement. Reno stayed on the ground floor.

"Cloud, help!" Aerith screamed as one of the troopers approached her. Reno wondered how Cloud would respond.

"Aerith! Hold on a minute!" Cloud called as he raced up a ladder to the beams. Reno looked up to see Cloud standing next to a barrel. _What is he doing? _A few minutes later, a barrel fell down from the ceiling and flattened the trooper. _Well, he definitely gets points for originality,_ Reno thought. _I'm definitely not getting involved._

Less then five minutes later, the other two troopers had also been flattened by barrels and Cloud and Aerith had escaped through the hole in the church roof. Reno leaned against one of the church walls and smirked. Now that there was no one there to watch him, he had no reason to go after Aerith. If anyone asked why, he would have the perfect excuse. No one in their right mind went after a SOLDIER 1st Class without SOLDIERs as backup. However, Tseng had to know what actually happened.

He pulled out his PHS and called Tseng.

"Tseng speaking," the smooth voice rolled out.

"Hey, is this a good time to talk about, you know, stuff?" Reno quickly asked. He hoped none of the executives were around.

There was a pause at the other end. "If by 'stuff' you mean certain events we don't know about then yes, we can."

Reno gave a sigh of relief. "All right. You know how I was supposed to bring in Aerith today?"

"Yes." The voice was carefully controlled.

"Well, I didn't. When I got there, there was someone else with her and you'll never believe who."

"Reno..." There was a light threat behind the voice.

"Okay boss," Reno instantly sobered. "It was Cloud Strife."

"Are you sure?" Tseng quickly asked.

"Positive. He had hair like a chocobo and the Buster Sword on his back." _And he was a little off, but that can wait 'til later._

"What are you going to tell the executives?"

Reno shrugged. "Rouge SOLDIER with an inconvenient sense of honor, should be believable as more and more of them are deserting."

"Good." There was a pause on the end of the line. "Reno?" Tseng asked. He sounded almost reluctant.

"Yeah boss?" Something big was coming up, Reno could feel it.

"The President has a new mission for you and you're not going to like it..."

End

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AN: Hope you liked it. Updates should be fairly regular as I've built up a backlog of chapters. I'm writing these as I encounter them in the story because I'm playing the game right now, so I will finish it. Thanks for reading!


	2. We've Been Ordered to do Worse Than This

AN: This one's much shorter then the last one as Reno isn't around for very long.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 2**  
We've Been Ordered to do Worse Than This...**

Reno's eyes narrowed as the pillar came into view. "Well, this is it," he said to Rude who was piloting the helicopter.

Rude spared him a glance. "You're okay with this, right?"

Reno waived off Rude's concern. "Yeah, I'll be fine." He snorted. "They just want us to give an entire towns worth of people a clean death. It's not like they want us to take them to Hojo's labs or anything."

Rude's jaw hardened at the mention of Hojo. "Do it quick then. I don't want to be here when the Plate falls."

"Sure thing man." Reno grinned cockily and swung out of the helicopter and landed on the catwalk. He glanced over at AVALANCHE and quickly raced over to the console imbedded in the wall. AVALANCHE rushed over to him and Reno put his finger over the button that activated the Emergency Plate Release System. "You're too late," he smirked. "Once I push this button..." He pushed it and grinned. "That's all, folks. Mission accomplished."

AVANLANCE flinched. "We have to disarm it!" the girl screamed. Reno realized she was the bartender Rude had a crush on. "Cloud! Barret! Please!"

Reno looked over at them. For once, he was serious. "I can't have you do that. No one gets in the way of Reno of the Turks..." _Especially not on a loyalty mission._ There was a moments pause and then AVALANCE rushed him.

The fight went by quickly, Reno wasn't trying to beat AVALANCHE as much as he was waiting for Rude's helicopter to swing by. The first thing he did was trap Cloud in a Pyramid spell. That changed the fight from 3-on-1 to 2-on-1. It was still difficult as the girl, Tifa, Rude called her, and the man with the gun on his arm, Tifa called him Barret, kept hammering Reno with magic spells. Reno retaliated with his EMR. It all went downhill though when Tifa charged up a physical attack Reno suspected was a Limit Break and randomly attacked Cloud instead of Reno. That ended the Pyramid. In turn, Cloud charged up a sword attack Reno knew could only be a Limit Break and attacked Reno. It ended up hitting Reno five times. Fortunately, Reno's PHS vibrated at the same time.

He turned back to AVALANCHE and smirked, "It's time."_ And you nearly finished me._ With that he ran past Tifa and jumped over the railing and into the waiting helicopter. _Safe._

End_  
_

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AN: This isn't all there is to the pillar scene. Thanks for reading!


	3. This Changes Everything

AN: Here's the rest of the pillar scene as well as some backstory for it.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 3**  
This Changes Everything...**

Tseng's eyes narrowed as he walked along the familiar paths between the Sector 5 Church and Aerith's house. She could usually be found in the Sector 5 Slums and it disturbed Tseng that nobody had seen her since yesterday. Usually he would have let it go, but... _the President's patience has been worn thin on this issue and he will not except another failure from us. _Tseng's thoughts were grim. _He is using this mission to test my loyalties and I..._ Tseng mentally shook himself. He knew what course he had to take; his true loyalties demanded nothing less.

Lost in his musings, Tseng turned a corner and saw Aerith. She was coming out of the hole in the barrier between the Sector 6 Slums and the Sector 7 Slums. With her was a small girl who looked to be about four years old. Steeling himself, Tseng approached her. "Aerith," he stated.

Aerith stopped short and looked over to where he was. The little girl buried her face in Aerith's dress. "Tseng?" Aerith's voice was soft. Tseng walked over to her and Aerith backed up a step. "What are you...?"

"Aerith..." _Forgive me. _Tseng glanced away from her and when his eyes returned to her, they were hardened steel. "We've put this off long enough. You're coming with me."

Aerith's eyes grew wide and her hand went up to brush her bangs away from her face. She glanced at the girl with her and then looked at Tseng. "If you let me take Marlene to my mother's house..." She gulped. "I'll go with you."

Tseng looked at her for a moment before nodding his consent. This would be the last kind thing he would be able to do for her.

* * *

Tseng glanced over at Aerith. She was staring quietly out the window of the helicopter at nothing in particular. Tseng inwardly sighed. He had always known their relationship would end this way, it was just a matter of time.

Tseng's PHS rang. "Tseng speaking."

"Sir," it was Rude's baritone. "I dropped Reno off at the pillar. Cloud is there."

"Thank you." Tseng hung up and glanced at Aerith and then at the pilot. He was one of Scarlet's men. "Go to the Sector 7 support pillar," Tseng ordered. The pilot nodded.

A few minutes later they were at the pillar. They arrived just in time to see Reno jump off the catwalk and into another helicopter. Tseng mentally sighed in relief; his subordinates were safe._ Now to see how Cloud did..._"Take us up.

As the helicopter rose up to the catwalk Tseng heard, "...not a normal time bomb." It was Cloud. He was standing by the console. Next to him was Tifa and Barret. _More people who shouldn't have survived Shin-Ra,_ Tseng thought.

"That's right. You'll have a hard time disarming that one," said Tseng. He decided to warn Cloud. "It'll blow the second some stupid jerk touches it."

"Please, stop it!" Tifa screamed up at him.

Tseng laughed. The irony was not lost on him. "Only a Shin-Ra executive can set up or disarm the Emergency Plate Release System." _And the President has stripped that right from us._

"Shut your hole!" Barret raised the arm that had a gun attached to the end of it and started shooting at Tseng.

Tseng glanced at Aerith who was ducking to avoid the bullets and wondered if Barret was blind. "I wouldn't try that... You just might make me injure our special guest." The bullets stopped and Aerith looked up at AVALANCHE.

"Aerith!" Tifa cried.

Tseng looked at Aerith. "Oh, you know each other?" Wordlessly, she nodded. Tseng wasn't even surprised; weirder things had happened. "How nice you could see each other one last time," he told her. "You should thank me."

"What are you gonna do with Aerith!" Cloud demanded.

"I haven't decided." _Unfortunately the President has. _"Our orders were to find and catch the last remaining Ancient. It's taken us a long time," _because I didn't want to bring her against her will, _"but now I can finally report this to the President." _And maybe he will finally accept that we will not betray the company again._

Suddenly, Aerith leaned out over the edge of the helicopter. "Tifa, don't worry!" she shouted down. "She's all right!" Tseng assumed Aerith was talking about Marlene.

_What do you think you're doing Aerith? _Tseng thought. _If you were to die... _Out of concern for what would happen to the Turks if she were to die, Tseng turned and slapped Aerith away from the edge of the helicopter. He slapped her so hard she fell back into the helicopter. _...Our lives will be forfeit. I will not do that to my subordinates._

"Aerith!" Tifa shouted. Tseng could see the concern in her eyes.

"Hurry and get out!" Aerith screamed from her place on the floor. "I'll be alright," she whispered to herself.

The PHS in Tseng's pocket buzzed. _It's time. _He laughed, "Well, it should be starting right about now. Think you can escape in time?"_ Knowing your luck, you will. _He signaled to the pilot and they lifted off just as the support pillar started to crumble.

Tseng looked out to see AVALANCHE escape by swinging down a wire. The members of AVALANCHE had survived the impossible again. _Why am I not surprised? _Oddly content that the Plate had not finished AVALANCHE, Tseng turned to Aerith. She met his eyes and Tseng could see horror stirring in them.

_Why?_ they accused, _Why did you have to go that far for only a few people?_

Tseng bowed his head and looked away from her. Their relationship would never be the same.

End

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AN: My first time doing Tseng's pov. I hope he was in character. Thanks for reading!


	4. Have You Lost Your Touch?

AN: I kind of forgot how crazy President Shinra sounds until I had to write this. No wonder Rufus wanted to take over. At least the President isn't around for much longer...

Enjoy!

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Chapter 4**  
Have You Lost Your Touch?**

In the 66th floor surveillance room, Rude eyed the people on a monitor and sighed. _Tifa..._ she and Aerith were standing outside the 66th floor elevator. Suddenly, the two girls were surrounded by SOLDIERs. Aerith was almost immediately handcuffed and taken up the elevator. A few minutes later, she showed up coming out the 67th floor elevator._ The prison block for her then._ Rude sighed in relief. At least the Turks hadn't lost her.

Tifa put up a longer fight, but eventually she too was handcuffed and taken up the elevator. She didn't come out until the 69th floor and Rude remembered that the President had wanted to meet with AVALANCHE as soon as he caught them.

He glanced at another monitor. In it, Cloud, Barret and Nanaki raced down the escalator from the 68th floor. When they reached the 66th floor, they left the escalator and went onto the 66th floor. Cloud was limping slightly, and Barret looked like he was recovering from being Poisoned.

Rude looked over at Tseng and Tseng nodded. They left the surveillance room and went along the wall of the conference room. Around the corner, Rude saw the three of them enter the elevator. Knowing Tseng would be right behind him, Rude shouldered his way into the elevator before the doors could close. Barret gaped and Cloud turned around.

"H, hey," he panted. "What is it?"

Feeling confident that the group was in no shape to fight, Rude relaxed. "Would you press 'Up' please?" he deadpanned and pointed towards the ceiling. _Reno must be rubbing off on me, _he thought.

"Turks," Cloud groaned. "Must be a trap..."

At that, Tseng walked in. "It must have been a real thrill for you," he told them as he swiped his ID card on the pad and pressed the button for the 69th floor. The elevator stared moving. "Did you enjoy it?" he asked sarcastically. Cloud just grimaced.

When they reached the 69th floor, Rude handcuffed all three of them and led them into the President's office. Along the way, he collected Tifa.

In the large office, AVALACHE lined up in front of the President's large desk. Cloud looked to either side of him and was surprised when he saw Tifa next to him. "You got caught too?" he asked her. She nodded and Cloud turned to the President. "Where is Aerith! ?" he demanded. Rude internally sighed. _Not another long speech..._

The President smiled at Cloud from his chair. "In a safe place." He got out of his chair and walked to the side of his desk and looked at Cloud with a knowing look in his eye. "She's the last surviving Ancient... Don't you know? They called themselves the Cetra, and lived thousands of years ago. Now they are just a forgotten page in history."

"Cetra... That girl, is she a survivor of the Cetra?" Nanaki whispered to himself. Rude nearly raised an eyebrow. _Not forgotten by everyone, it seems. _

President Shinra walked down in front of his desk and looked at Tifa. "Cetra, or the Ancients will show us the way to the 'Promised Land.' I'm expecting a lot out of her."

"The Promised Land? Isn't that just a legend?" Nanaki said.

"Even so, it's just too appealing to not to pursue." The President continued on. "It's been said the Promised Land is very fertile. ...If the land is fertile..."

"Then there's gotta be Mako!" It was Barret.

The President turned to him. "Exactly," he agreed. "That is why our money sucking Mako Reactor is necessary. The abundant Mako will just come out on its own. That is where Neo-Midgar will be built. Shin-Ra's new glory..." Rude's eyes narrowed. _It is speeches like this that lead the executives and Rufus to think President Shinra is loosing his touch._

"&$#*^%! Quit dreamin'!" Barret spat at the President.

President Shinra shook his head. "Oh really, don't you know? These days, all it takes for you dreams to come true is money and power. Well!" He straitened his suit. "That is all for our meeting."

Rude took the hint and approached AVALANCHE. "Come on! Outta of his way!" he ordered.

Cloud, Tifa, and Nanaki made their way towards the stairs, but Barret stayed. "Hold it!" he shouted. "I got a lot I wanna say to you!" He began to make his way towards the President, but Rude pulled him away and escorted him down the stairs.

Once they were on the 69th floor, Tseng and Rude met up with a group of 3rd Class SOLDIERs and handed AVALANCHE over to them.

"Take them to the 67th floor prison block," Tseng told the SOLDIERs. They saluted and escorted AVALANCHE down the escalator. Rude wondered how long AVALANCHE would stay in the prison block.

End

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AN: I hope I got Rude right. One more chapter and then we are out of Midgar. Thanks for reading!


	5. So Much For Security

AN: After thinking about it, I decided to do Rufus's pov. After all, he was with the Turks for three years and he definitely is on their side as opposed to say, Scarlet's. He's also a lot of fun to write.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 5**  
So Much For Security...**

Rufus crossed his arms and shifted in his seat as the Shin-Ra Building came into view. He did not like the situation and almost none of it had to do with his father's death. Rather, it had to do with the fact that he had been woken up by Scarlet's people and had had no time to contact the Turks, the only people he could actually trust. Rufus fingered his shotgun. Until he was back with them, he was going to have to watch his back.

The black animal at his feet bumped against him and Rufus eyed it. It was a "gift" from Hojo and had been waiting for him in the helicopter. Rufus didn't trust it either. Over the course of the three years he had spent with the Turks he had heard their stories about Hojo. The things that man could do... _His research is going to be looked into by the Turks. _

When the helicopter reached the 70th floor balcony, Rufus saw Palmer rush out of the door of the President's office. "Sephiroth killed the President!" he panicked. "Sephiroth killed the President!"

Rufus stepped out of the helicopter. The black beast followed him. "Are you sure? !"

"I saw it with my own eyes!" Palmer blubbered.

"So..." Rufus said to himself. "So Sephiroth was actually here." He glanced up to see the most diverse group of people he had ever seen run up. "...By the way," Palmer dashed past him and into the helicopter. "Who are you guys?"

"I'm Cloud, former SOLDIER 1st Class!" said the only blond in the group. He had extremely spiky hair, mako blue eyes and wore a slightly modified SOLDIER 1st Class uniform complete with a sword. Rufus thought the name sounded familiar and added it to his growing list of things to ask the Turks to look into.

"I'm from AVALANCHE!" shouted the large black man with a gun on his arms instead of a hand. That threw Rufus for a loop. The Turks had spectacularly shut down AVALANCHE and covered up all his past connections with the group.

"Same here!" announced the well endowed woman with long dark brown hair. Rufus had no clue who she was.

"...a flower girl from the slums," said the Ancient. Rufus knew exactly who she was.

"...a research specimen," said the red lion-like animal. Rufus glanced at the black animal Hojo had given him. They were not alike at all.

Rufus ran his eyes across the group. "What a crew." It looked like they wouldn't be a serious threat to Shin-Ra compared to the old AVALANCHE. That was a good thing for him. "Well, I'm Rufus. The President of Shin-Ra, Inc."

"You only President, 'cause yer old man died," the man with the gun accused.

"That's right."_ I don't deny it and I'm glad he died sooner rather then later; he was running the company into the ground._ Rufus turned around and eyed the helicopter. It wouldn't surprise him if Heidegger and Scarlet were recording this. "I'll let you hear my new appointment speech." _And that way, Scarlet and Heidegger will have no reason to go poking into my activities for the last couple of years. _ If they did, it would be all too easy for them to take over the company and permanently deal with him.

He turned around and started walking over to the woman with long dark brown hair. Hojo's black animal silently followed him. "...Old man tried to control the world with money. It seems to have been working." _It's just money can't control everyone. _He walked over to the Ancient."The population thought that Shin-Ra would protect them." _ Yeah, right. _He walked over to the man with the gun. "Work at Shin-Ra, get your pay. If a terrorist attacks, the Shin-Ra army will help you."_ If Heidegger can figure out how to oversee the army efficiently, which is never going to happen. _"It looks perfect on the outside," Rufus told the man. "But, I do things differently. I'll control the world with fear. It takes too much to do it like my old man."_ And like Heidegger and like Scarlet._ He walked over to the railing and looked over Midgar. "A little fear will control the minds of the common people. There's no reason to waste money on them."

"He likes to make speeches just like his father." It was the woman with dark brown hair.

"Get outta this building with Aerith!" shouted Cloud at the man with the gun. Rufus didn't care if Aerith got away or not; the Ancient was not important to him, but to his father.

"What?" the other man said.

"I'll explain later! Barret! This is the real crisis of the Planet!" Cloud pleaded.

"The hell's that supposed to mean?" Barret shouted back. Rufus wondered what he was talking about as well.

Cloud looked annoyed. "I'll tell you later! Just take my word for it now! I'll go after I take care of him!" Rufus tensed at that and felt for his shotgun. Three years with the Turks had toughened him considerably, but he was nowhere near the level of a SOLDIER 1st Class.

Barret nodded. "Awright, Cloud!" He, Aerith, the dark haired woman and the lion-like animal ran off down the balcony.

"Why do you want to fight me?" Rufus asked Cloud. It wasn't like he would have stopped them.

"You seek the Promised Land and Sephiroth," Cloud answered.

"Hm, exactly." _At least as far as Sephiroth goes. The Promised Land... Che, I don't chase after things that don't exist. _Rufus's eyes narrowed and he walked over to Cloud. _Now how much do you know about Sephiroth? _"Mm? Did you know that Sephiroth is an Ancient?"

Cloud paused before speaking. "...A lot has happened. Anyway, I can't let either you or Sephiroth have the Promised Land!"

"I see." Rufus looked coolly at Cloud and "I guess this means we won't become friends." _You assume too much._

"Definitely not!" Cloud yelled as he drew his sword and charged Rufus.

It wasn't so much a fight as it was a waiting game. It turned out the the dog-like animal Hojo had given Rufus could cast Barrier and Mbarrier spells on him. While Rufus didn't mind the spells, it unnerved him that the creature had that much intelligence. He did not mind it when Cloud took it out with a Limit Break.

What he did mind was that his helicopter was not coming close enough to pick him up and it looked like the pilot was doing it on purpose._ Probably Scarlet's man,_ he thought. _She always was sharper and more ambitious then Heidegger and would have no problem with letting me know she still suspects I was behind AVALANCHE. Especially now that it's reared it's head again._

It was only after Cloud had Poisoned him with a Bio spell that the helicopter dropped close enough for Rufus to grab a hold of the bottom strut as it pulled away. "Heh... That's all for today," he shot back at Cloud before pulling himself up into the helicopter. Once in the helicopter, Rufus drank a Remedy and looked at the pilot. "Fly me to the hanger."

End

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AN: This is the last Midgar chapter. Thanks for reading!


	6. All Right! Who Stole My Equipment? ! ?:1

AN: This is the first oneshot that centers around the player Turks from Before Crisis. I decided to do these because in Case of Shin-Ra, Veld says the other Turks are living in all the different towns in Gaia. I figured they had to bump into Cloud and Co. sometime in the game. Most of these will be humorous in nature and will fill in the gaps of the game.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 6**  
All Right! Who Stole My Equipment? ! ? - - - - - Kalm**

_Was that... Cloud? _Karen turned around to get a look at the group of people who had just walked past her. Her Turk training took in a woman with waist-length dark brown hair, another woman with light brown hair pulled up into a ponytail and a guy with very spiky blond hair and the Buster Sword on his back in less then a second.

Karen blinked at the last one and scrutinized the guy. He was on the short side and was wearing the uniform of a SOLDIER 1st Class. On his back was the Buster Sword. He turned to talk to one of the girls and Karen got a look at his profile. _It's him alright. _Her hand dropped down to her gun and Karen slowly backed away from them. He wasn't causing trouble, and Karen had no reason to get involved, whatever her last mission might have been. Fortunately, Cloud and the girls turned and walked off down the street and out of Kalm. _Well, at least he's not sticking around here for a while. _Karen let out the breath she had not been holding and walked up to the square where the mako generator was. Her house was near it.

When Karen got to her house, Carla, the landlady, walked up to her. "You might want to make sure all your stuff is there."

"What do you mean?" Kalm had the lowest crime rate of any city on the Planet. _Although there's a very dark reason behind that,_ Karen thought. Nobody knew about it now.

"Well," Carla grinned at the prospect of gossip. "Some travelers stopped by. They talked to a lot of people and looked through all the houses on this row. It didn't look like they'd taken anything, but after they left, we started noticing some small things were missing."

Karen's mind went immediately to Cloud. "What was missing and what did the people look like?"

"Little things. Mostly ethers and my kids noticed they came into my room. I looked in and noticed the guard source I'd been saving up for my husband was missing." Carla shook her head. Guard sources were hard to come by.

"What did they look like?" Karen prompted.

"What'd looked like?" Carla grinned. "Well, there was a guy who looked like a SOLDIER 1st Class. Had a gigantic sword on his back and hair like a chocobo's. Then there was the two girls with him. One showed more skin then's decent and had the biggest rack I've ever seen. Had long dark brown hair too. Didn't like the way she held herself. I liked the other girl a lot better. She had on a dress and had her hair up in a ponytail." Carla softened. "She had a really nice smile. To be honest, I wondered what she was doing in their company."

"I'll keep that in mind." Karen pried herself away from Carla and made her way to the back of the house. _So Cloud somehow survived and is wandering with some people. I better tell Tseng._ She climbed up the spiral staircase that led to the attic where she kept all her materia and weapons. The bookcase where she hid all her materia was untouched, but her weapons locker... _Empty. Darn._ Her Peacemaker was missing. It wasn't the gun itself she didn't like loosing, the gun on her person right now packed more of a punch, but the three double growth materia slots in the gun. _At least most of my materia is close to being mastered already and it didn't have any materia in it._ Karen reached for her PHS and dialed Tseng's personal number from memory. _What would Cloud want with a gun anyway?_

End

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AN: None of the player Turks have set names as you (the player) get to name them. Karen is my name for Gun(F). Thanks for reading!


	7. We'll Say Whatever We Need You To Hear

AN: Elena's pov this time.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 7**  
We'll Say Whatever We Need You To Hear...**

"Where are we going, sir?" Elena looked out the window of the helicopter at the Midgar mountain range.

"The Mythril Mine," Tseng answered. "I got word from Karen that she had seen AVALANCHE leaving Kalm."

Elena scowled at the mention of her older sister. They did not have a good relationship and it had only been after the original AVALANCHE affair that they started to mend it.

"Tseng!" Rude called from the front. "A transmission from... Roxanne just came in."

Elena and Tseng shared a surprised glance. Roxanne was another "deceased" Turk. "Put her through," ordered Tseng.

There was a hiss of static and a professional woman's voice came through. "Tseng, I know we're supposed to stay out of contact, but I thought you should know that Sephiroth just passed through the area and he is heading right for Junon."

"Thank you," began Tseng. "Where-"

"Someone's coming." Roxanne abruptly hung up.

There was an awkward silence."Well, at least we don't have to go looking for Sephiroth," said Elena.

Tseng nodded. "Now all we need to do is tell AVALANCHE where he is headed without them finding out that we want AVALANCHE to follow Sephiroth."

Elena grinned. "That shouldn't be too hard." She laughed. "It sure beats waiting tables in Wall Market."

Tseng's lips twitched into a smile and he turned to look at Elena. "How did a girl from a wealthy family that lived on the Plate come to work in Wall Market?"

Elena laughed. "Well, it all started when I missed my stop on the train..."

* * *

Their helicopter landed next to the entrance of the Mythril Mine. Tseng ordered Rude and Elena to go on ahead and wait for him. They nodded and went in to the mine.

The first room was a large cavern. Elena glanced at Rude and he nodded to the ledge high up on the wall. Elena understood what he wanted and climbed up the wall and stood on the ledge. From this height, she could keep an eye on the two passages the led deeper into the mines.

She didn't have to wait long. Not more the five minutes later, Elena heard footsteps and voices coming from one of the passages and AVALANCHE walked into the room.

"Just a second," Rude whispered. His voiced echoed throughout the cavern and AVALANCHE stopped in their tracks.

The lion-like animal Rude said was call Nanaki gave Rude a one-eyed glare. "...I hoped I'd never see you again..." Elena raised an eyebrow. _He knows Rude somehow?_

As usual, Rude went right on. "Do you know who I am?" he asked the group.

"From the Turks, right?" Cloud confirmed.

Rude's face didn't even crack. "Well if you know, then this won't take long." He paused before speaking. "It's difficult to explain what the Turks do..." he trailed off and Elena sighed. _Come on Rude, just get it over with. Dragging it out will only make it worse._

Cloud raised an eyebrow at Rude. "Kidnapping, right?" _And a lot more then that, _Elena snorted.

"To put it negatively..." Rude crossed his arms and nodded. "You could say that. ...But, that's not all there is to it, anymore..." he trailed off and an awkward silence fell over the cavern.

Elena sighed. This was getting nowhere so she might as well step in. It wasn't like she could make the situation any worse. "Sir!" she called. Everyone turned to look at her. "It's all right, Rude! I know you don't like speeches, so don't force it!"

Rude nodded his thanks. "...Then Elena, explain."

Elena smiled and began talking. "I'm the newest member of the Turks, Elena. Thanks to what you did to Reno, we're short of people." _Although, _she thought,_ it's because of that I got promoted to the Turks. _She shook herself. "In any case, our job is to find out where Sephiroth is headed and to try to stop you every step of the way." She stopped and ran over what she had just said in her head. _Wait a minute, it's the other way around... You're the ones that are getting in our way. Hey, wait! Maybe it's a good thing that you think we're after you..._

"...Elena. You talk too much," stated a smooth voice.

Elena looked up and saw that Tseng had walked in."Mr. Tseng!" _Thank goodness you're here. _She sent Tseng a grateful look.

"No need to tell them about our orders," he reminded her.

Elena bit her lip and looked at her shoes. "Sorry... Tseng."

"I thought I gave you other orders. Now go. Don't forget to file your report."

"Oh! Right!" _Thanks for the opening! _Elena couldn't help grinning as she said, "Very well, Rude and I will go after Sephiroth, who's heading for Junon Harbor!"

Tseng let out a mock sigh and shook his head. "...Elena. You don't seem to understand." His eyes told a different story; she had done exactly what she was supposed to do.

Now that she was off the hook Elena felt free to play along. "Oh! I'm, I'm sorry..."

Tseng sighed again and gave her a fake glare. "...Go. Don't let Sephiroth get away." It was a reminder for her as much as it was for AVALANCHE.

"Yes sir!" Both she and Rude saluted and Elena climbed down from the ledge.

Before they left the mines Rude looked back at AVALANCHE. "...Reno said he wanted to see you after the injuries you gave him healed. He wants to show his affection for you all...". He paused, this time for dramatic effect. "With a new weapon." He and Elena both nodded to Tseng and exited the cave.

Instead of going back to the helicopter they waited by the mine entrance and listened to what was going on inside.

"...Looks like you got away from Shin-Ra for a while, now that Sephiroth reappeared." It was Tseng. Elena wondered who he was talking to.

"...so what are you saying?" said a soft voice. "That I should be grateful to Sephiroth?" There was a touch of anger behind it.

"No..." Elena frowned. She had never heard Tseng use this tone before. "Well, I won't be seeing too much of you, so take care." It almost sounded like Tseng sounded sorry.

"...strange, hearing that from you." The girl's voice held hurt and sarcasm in it.

"Well then, stay out of Shin-Ra's way." There was footsteps and a minute later Tseng appeared. "Let's go." His voice held no emotion and he didn't even look at Rude and Elena. Elena wondered who it was that had affected him so much.

End

* * *

AN: In BC, the first place you meet Elena is in the diner in Wall Market. Roxanne is yet another player Turk.


	8. Funding Please? ! ?

AN: Sorry this took so long. I was distracted by FFVIII and just had to finish it. Thankfully, it didn't give me any plot bunnies that demanded to be written. I am now back to playing FFVII (materia system!) so the updates should come much sooner.

Another player Turks pov. As fair warning, I like poking fun at situations that make no sense when you really think about it.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 8**  
Funding Please? ! ?  
**

"Rox!" a male voice called. "Some new people climbed up."

Roxanne got up from where she had been watching the Junon plains and quickly looked at the army that was gathering. The army wasn't human. Instead it was composed of animal-like beasts, flying wyvens, fierce barbarians and the occasional grand horn. It bothered her that Shin-Ra had been able to breed an inhuman army and hide it from the Turks. Still, the army was nothing compared to Zirconiade and Jade WEAPON. She turned to Riley. "Will they be able to help?"

Riley nodded. "They all look like capable fighters."

Rosanne sighed. "I mean, do you think they have enough extra gil on hand to help you pay for us mercenaries." She pulled her long black hair into a low ponytail and put her gloves on. "If you don't, most of us will leave and then where will you be?" She walked off down the stairs. Somebody had to make sure mercenaries got their pay and it might as well be her. She wasn't scared of anything.

"How much do you guys want?" Riley's question stopped her in her tracks.

"5,000 gil for every battle we fight. We'll split it up ourselves." The offer was high on purpose.

"1,000 gil"

Roxanne smiled and turned to look at Riley. "You know, Dio's been in need of people to keep an eye on the Battle Square and the Ghost Square has a lot better room service." She raised an eyebrow. "Get my drift?"

Riley slowly nodded. "Is 3,000 gil good?"

"Yes, that will work." With that, Roxanne headed down the stairs and climbed down the ladder. She looked up and gulped when she saw Barret and Nanaki were with the group of people. The Corel and Cosmo Canyon missions were still fresh in her mind. _This isn't good. If they recognize me..._

Very carefully, Roxanne inched towards the other ladder and climbed up into the shop cave. She brushed aside the blanket that covered the tunnel that led to where the mercenaries slept and lay down in her sleeping bag. There was a good chance there was going to be a battle tomorrow and Roxanne needed her sleep.

End

* * *

AN: Roxanne is my name for Martial Arts(F) and she actually was a mercenary before she became a Turk. Her asking for 3,000 gil per battle is a reference to the fact that you can let FC handle it if you pay them 3,000 gil and that if you pay FC 3,000 gil for all of the 13 battles you can fight before Tifa falls asleep, FC will win all the battles you can't fight.

Alright. Fort Condor. (o_^)? ? ?

Seriously, FC makes no sense. Shin-Ra has let a rebel group stay under a mako reactor long enough to have an Item and Materia shop. Not only that, the rebel group somehow has access to mercenaries and weapons like catapults. Then there's the Shin-Ra army. Barbarians I get, but Beasts? Wyverns? Grand Horns? What is this, an army made of DeepGround rejects? (favorite crack theory) You have to wonder why Shin-Ra hasn't sent an army of SOLDIERs to take care of the issue if the situation were that bad. Talk about a PR disaster. Okay, rant over.

The next couple of chapters will be centered around Junon.

Thanks for reading!


	9. What a Waste of Time and Money

AN: Sorry I haven't updated in a while. This is the first of several chapters that take place in Junon. And Rufus is back.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 9**  
What a Waste of Time and Money...**

Rufus mechanically waved at the cheering people. He did not want to be here, but Heidegger had wanted to show off the might of his army and the look Scarlet had given him had said she was closely watching him. Not wanting to come any further under their scrutiny, Rufus had agreed to go.

What he really wanted to be doing was looking over Hojo's research with the Turks. Back when his father had placed him in the Turks' custody, it was on of the few branches of Shin-Ra that he did not have complete access to. It didn't look like his father had blocked him from it either. That that could only mean that Hojo had been up to something he did not want Shin-Ra to know about. Rufus wondered if that was now coming back to haunt them.

For now though, he had to content himself with making sure Scarlet didn't suspect him or the Turks and if that meant putting himself forward as his former spoiled self and suffering through a parade in Junon, so be it. As it was, it turned out Sephiroth had been headed towards Junon when he was last seen so the trip was not a complete waste.

Fortunately, the parade ended at the mako canon. Back in Midgar, Heidegger had claimed that the Highwind, the largest airship Shin-Ra had produced would be waiting for them. Predictably, nothing was there. Rufus wasn't surprised; he had heard from the Turks how Heidegger had handled the last Junon crisis and had prepared accordingly. Still, it was annoying.

Rufus sighed and climbed out of the car. _I might as well get this over with. _As he turned around, the last squad of troopers ran up. Rufus frowned at the last trooper in line. _Something's... off..._ It took him a second to see everything. The most obvious discrepancy was that the trooper was on the short side. By itself, it didn't mean much, but when taken with the fact that the trooper had accidentally swung his gun over his back before holding it correctly, it made for a very disturbing picture. It became more disturbing when Rufus realized the way the trooper swung his gun over his back was nearly identical to the way Cloud Strife swung his sword over his shoulder in the security footage Rufus had seen. Rufus made a mental note to compare the parade footage with the security footage. It could very well be that it was Cloud Strife under the trooper uniform; the Turks had used the exact same ruse to get between their base in the Shin-Ra Tower and the hanger and it had worked every time.

Rufus got to observe the trooper much more closely as Heidegger ran the troopers through several pointless drills. While the trooper didn't accidentally put his gun on his back again, he was far sloppier then the other troopers.

Finally the commander gave Heidegger one last salute and Heidegger faced Rufus. "Gya haa haa! All units present and accounted for!"

Rufus's eyes narrowed and he decided to start out the nice way. "How's the job?" He raised an eyebrow and waited for Heidegger to tell him why the airship wasn't there. When Heidegger didn't answer, Rufus turned around and looked out over the harbor._ It's time to start letting him know I am not my father. Maybe not all at once, but in bits and pieces..._ He turned around and looked directly at Heidegger. "What happened to the Airship?" he asked in a quiet, low voice that demanded an answer.

Heidegger scratched the back of his head. "The long range airship is still being prepared," he bellowed out. "It should be ready in about three more days. Gya haa haa!"

Rufus sighed. _What did my father ever see in this idiot._ Reeve, Rufus understood; even Scarlet had a place. Heidegger had none."Even the Air Force's Gelnika?" he supplied. Unlike the Highwind, which was one of a kind, the Gelnika had been mass-produced back in the Wutai war. It wouldn't take that long to ready it for travel.

"...Gya haa haa!" Heidegger burst out.

Furious at not being taken seriously, Rufus walked up to Heidegger. "Stop that stupid horse laugh," Rufus ordered. At the moment, he didn't care what Scarlet would do with the incident. "Things are different then when father was in charge." _And it would do you well to remember that although it probably doesn't matter at this point._

"Gya..." Heidegger stopped mid-laugh when Rufus's words finally hit him.

Rufus turned around and walked towards the harbor. He had one more suggestion and he hoped Heidegger was smart enough to take it. He turned around and gave Heidegger a pointed glare. "Is the ship ready?"

Finally Heidegger got the hint. He bowed and nodded vigorously. "Yes Sir, we'll get it ready quickly."

Rufus curtly nodded and tucked his hair behind his ear. He climbed up the ladder to the elevator that would take him to the presidential residence on top of the mako cannon. When Heidegger didn't follow him, he looked out the window. Heidegger was punching the trooper Rufus suspected was Cloud Strife. Unlike most troopers who passed out only after a few of Heidegger's punches, this one didn't. _One more piece of evidence that it could be Strife,_ Rufus thought. Quickly, he dialed Tseng's number and scowled when he got Tseng's voice-mail. It couldn't be helped; for all he knew, Tseng was being grilled by Scarlet. At least Tseng checked his phone for messages often. "When you get the chance, send me the security footage of AVALANCHE's break-in and the live TV broadcast of the parade." Rufus shut the PHS. He did not have to say anymore. By now he knew the Turks better then his own family or rather, he was now part of their family. Tseng would look over the footage himself before sending it to Rufus and would know exactly what Rufus had seen.

A moment after Rufus put away his PHS, Heidegger stormed into the elevator and burst out laughing while he flipped a switch. The elevator groaned up towards the top of the cannon. Rufus grit his teen and bore it; as bad as Heidegger was, Scarlet was worse. Like Heidegger, she was annoying; unlike Heidegger, she actually had a head on her shoulders. Rufus had to be much more careful around her.

End

* * *

AN: For some reason, Chapters 10 and 11 are taking a long time. However Chapters 12, 13 and 14 are already done. I really don't know why my muse is like this.

Thanks for reading!


End file.
